Yakitori Totto

Location

On a quiet bit of 55th Street that caters to a largely Japanese crowd, Yakitori Totto sits, up a long set of stairs from Sugiyama, a well-regarded kaiseki restaurant at street level. The restaurant takes the chicken as its symbol, and though the menu has something to sate the craving of every meat lover, chicken is the focus. All the dark meat is good; liver is crisped and charred outside, succulent within. Nuggets of chicken grilled with negi, a robust cousin of scallions, is essential, as is shishito peppers stuffed with minced breast meat. But chicken is the tip of the iceberg. There is also a full menu of omelets, fried chicken and tofu dishes that are expertly executed. — Peter Meehan

The specialty here is patacón, the formidable sandwich of the city of Maracaibo, Venezuela, bookended not by bread but by unripe plantains that have been fried, smashed and fried again. The small but sleek storefront traces its origins back to 2005, when Liliana Velazquez, a native of Maracaibo, started selling patacónes out of a truck in Inwood, ManhattanComplete Review »